Your way to a vida plena
From exhaustion to blood levels: Why wellness only works when we also dare inflammation.
Wellness is all the rage. Companies are investing massively in yoga subscriptions, health apps and inspirational lunches. Employees have access to pedometers, stress meters and everything else you can think of. And still? Burnout rates continue to rise. Chronic diseases are on the rise. What about the number of years of healthy life? That progress seems to have been stagnating for years. Certainly, the number of healthy life years. And after all, we all want to grow old healthy!
What are we missing?
During a presentation by Evelyn Verlinde (Leadlife) at HRCONGRES, it was painfully explained: “We optimize everything except our humanity”.
And that’s exactly where my work as a coach lies. Because well-being is not about doing more, it’s about looking closer. Feeling more deeply. No sticking plasters, but understanding patterns. Understanding what is really going wrong in our bodies, even before the symptoms are knocking at the door.
We live in a time in which we can measure everything: steps, heart rate, sleep quality, stress.
But what do these numbers mean no one asks how are you ‘really’ doing? A smartwatch can give you so much information that, but without human tools to do something with it a36> do to improve your well-being, then come you still not further.
What I see in my practice is that many people continue to walk around with vague complaints for years. They are tired, listless, have headaches, feel as if their head is ‘foggy’, and have muscle and joint pain. They go to the doctor, have blood tests, and are told that everything is within the reference range. So there is nothing wrong. But they still feel what they feel. And that muscle pain: “Oh well, I helped people into bed at work, so that must be where it comes from.” And the tiredness and headaches: “Well, I have a lot on my mind.” Maybe I’ll just take some paracetamol. Medically speaking, there is nothing wrong, but the above is not normal. As a child, I used to have muscle pain for two days after gym class at school. But I had been exercising, so that was normal. Now I know that is NOT normal. It’s those little things, those signals from your body. Signals we should listen to. Just like we react when a red light comes on in the car’s dashboard.
That’s why I like to look deeper. Doing blood work at the cellular level and so looking at the balance in your body. Because this balance drives low-grade inflammation. Low grade inflammation is one of the most important but often invisible causes of physical and mental ailments such as: fatigue, chronic illness and from brain fog to burnout. It is not an acute inflammation, but a latent process. And our body gives alarm signals, but it is up to us to recognize them. Stress, diet, exercise, lack of sleep… are factors that “ignite” low-grade inflammation. And our body tries with all its might to put out that fire, but there is more fuel than extinguisher. However, I would like to offer you this extinguishing agent, suitable for you. And thus ensure that there can be no further ignition.
The problem is not usually ignorance. We know that exercise, diet and sleep are crucial. And yet, less than 1 in 3 Belgians meet the standard of exercise. We continue to smoke, drink, and immerse ourselves in stress. Health has to do with which signals from our body we dismiss as “it’s part of the deal” and which ones we want to seriously address. Where we are willing and able to make an adjustment that fits our lives. And yes, they don’t make it easy for us at the supermarket or in cafes.
That’s why I work with a different approach. No quick fixes or loose advice. But a process where we measure where your body is at in terms of low-grade inflammation, vitamin D deficiency or blood sugar balance. No endless medical mills, but simple, understandable ideas and tools that you can easily apply yourself. And yes, as a nurse I sometimes have the pitfall of sprinkling in medical terms, but please get back to me. Clarity and practicality is where we get the furthest. And especially if you are open to working with the mind-body view, I can tell you that sometimes it is hard and confronting work to enter into a process with me.
However, if we want wellness to really work, we must dare to invest in prevention and ensure that we can age in a healthy way. Not just by investing in apps, but by applying these tools in a humane way, acting on them. Investing in policies that address health in a structural way instead of leaving it in the hands of measurement and uncommitted initiatives. Because companies without burnout, turn out to be 40% more profitable. And people without low-grade inflammation stay fitter and healthier for longer and therefore incur less health care costs.Less pressure on health care!
Health doesn’t start with symptoms. It starts with listening. By measuring what really matters and , above all, by trusting that change is possible. Even if you haven ‘t believed that for years. Or like I know that rheumatism is in my genes, I also believed that muscle pain is part of it. Now I know better and wish it had been looked at as a child. That would have saved me a lot of pain and discomfort. But know that it is not too late!
Do you want to know if low-grade inflammation has something to do with your energy or pain symptoms? Don’t hesitate to send me a message for a no-obligation introductory consultation;because”learning to live with it ” can for everyone become “I live my life”!
